Queenstown Volunteer Fire Brigade secretary Katherine Lamont handed over her "Fighting for Fairness" petition, signed by more than 36,500 people, to Labour’s ACC spokeswoman Camilla Belich on the steps of Parliament in Wellington.
It calls for volunteer firefighters to receive the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid colleagues.
Because ACC defines "employment" as working for financial gain, it means the country’s 12,000 volunteer firefighters — 86% of Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s frontline workforce — are not covered for mental trauma or gradual workplace illness through ACC.
Mrs Lamont started the petition after former Kingston chief fire officer Peter Ottley was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, triggered by a crash between a car and a bus in December in which one person died and 20 others were seriously injured.
She told Labour representatives yesterday that Mr Ottley, who had been a volunteer for 13 years, had been on the scene at many horrific incidents and was "deeply affected".
He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, but unlike paid firefighters, was not eligible for ACC coverage because he was classified as a "non-employee".
"Despite serving on the front line, just like the paid crews, his contribution doesn’t come with the same protection.
"Right now, our laws fail to protect the very people who protect us.
"No-one who volunteers to protect and save others should be left behind when they need help themselves."
Appearing on TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday with Mrs Lamont, United Fire Brigades’ Association board chairman Peter Dunne said the association had been pushing successive governments to make the legislative change, but it had been treated with "polite indifference" to date.
He believed there was an "erroneous" fear if ACC provisions were extended to cover volunteer firefighters, "they’ve got to extend them to cover every volunteer throughout the country".
Also appearing on Breakfast, Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop said there were "some complexities" to the change in legislation, "but you’ve got to say, in principle, there are some good arguments there".
In a statement, after receiving the petition, Ms Belich said Labour was drafting a policy to change the legislation should it win next year’s election.
Mrs Lamont told the Otago Daily Times the response to the petition in Wellington "just blew me away".
